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NEW DELHI: Delhi's senior-most player Gautam Gambhir has decided to step down from the state Ranji side's captaincy, an official said on Monday.

According to the report from the association, he was replaced by Nitish Rana, the 24-year-old Rana is a middle-order batsman, who has an average of 46.29 in 24 first-class appearances so far.

“Gautam has intimated the state team’s chief selector Amit Bhandari that he would like to drop out of captaincy and suggest that younger player to be groomed for the job. Nitish Rana will lead the team and Dhruv Shorey will be his deputy,” said a senior office-bearer of the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA).

The 26-year-old Shorey has 21 first-class matches to his credit and is a top-order batsman.

Gambhir announces his decision through Twitter.

“Time to pass the captaincy baton to youngsters, hence have requested the DDCA selectors not to consider me for that role. I will be in the background helping the new leader to win games”, Gambir tweeted.

The first match of Delhi Squad is scheduled on November 12 at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

Gambhir's decision to opt out of captaincy is also an indicator that he might not continue playing competitive cricket for a very long time.

The 37-year-old player -Gambhir was reinstated as captain at the start of the season and led Delhi to the Vijay Hazare finals and scored close to 500 runs in the National One-Dayers.

Gautam Gambhir is an Indian cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays domestic cricket for Delhi and captained Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. Under Gambhir's captaincy, the Kolkata Knight Riders won their IPL title in 2012 and again in 2014.

Gautham made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Bangladesh in 2003 and captained the Indian team in six ODIs from late-2010 to late-2011. He is the only Indian and one of four international cricketers to have scored hundreds in five consecutive Test matches.

He was conferred the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award, in the year 2008 by the President of India.